`A Lovable Character' Who Loved Radio And Rock Cats

EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

August 20, 2006|By ANNE M. HAMILTON; Special To The Courant

Each Sunday, ``Extraordinary Life'' looks back on someone whose life made a difference.

Eugene S. Ostroski, 82, of New Britain, died July 30.

Gene Ostroski reveled in his heritage, and many people knew him as the Polish prince of New Britain. For years he was a radio announcer on Polish polka shows and inspired the Rock Cats to celebrate Polish night at New Britain Stadium.

Ostroski was also the director of civil defense for New Britain for 32 years and went out on house-fire and disaster calls to see if the city's services were needed.

He was ``a lovable character,'' says Gary Ostroske,his oldest son. He collected old cars, dressed up in zany costumes, had a huge collection of polka music and a lifelong passion for baseball.

He grew up in New Britain, the only child of Jennie and Stanley Ostroski. They lived above their grocery store and also owned a bar, the Silver Dollar, on Park Street in Hartford. Jennie, a seamstress, had a good head for business and invested wisely in the stock market, which gave young Gene a nest egg when he was a young man.

After graduating from high school in 1941, Ostroski enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., but left after a year to enlist in the Air Force. During the war, he served in Central and South America.

After he was discharged, he worked for a short time as an interpreter for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and then went to the New York School of Broadcasting in New York City. Everyone listened to the radio in those days, and his strong, musical voice and spontaneity made him a natural. He married Frances Arman in the mid-1940s, and they had a son, Gary.

Ostroski got a job on the early morning show at radio station WESB-AM in Bradford, Pa., where he became known as ``The Milkman.''

In 1953, he was driving a bus in Pennsylvania to supplement his radio salary and dropped into a restaurant for a cup of coffee. He was single again, and fancied the waitress, Terry Napolitan, who was studying for her master's degree.

``He had a way with words,'' she says. ``He was able to charm you.''

She was Italian, and he was Polish, and they both loved to dance. The couple married in 1957 and had three children.

Ostroski had returned to New Britain, where he was an announcer for WHAY as Gene Orland. Ostroski announced the morning show on WHAY, later to become WRCH, and broadcast polka dances from Polish halls, including the Falcon Club. On weekends, he worked at Channel 30 in West Hartford as an announcer. Later, he worked at a studio in Southington and for the past six years was a disc jockey on Patti Ann Jakubiak's show ``Polka Happiness'' on WXCT-AM, broadcast from the Polish Home in Bristol.

``He could ad-lib; he was witty; he was a talent,'' Jakubiak says.

Ostroski loved radio broadcasting and did it well.

``He was a very good salesman; he had a very good voice,'' says Terry Ostroski.

``He just had a personality that drew people to him,'' says Ed Henry, the show's host. ``He was the friendliest guy.''

Ostroski loved to have fun, and he would wear silly string ties or crazy hats on any occasion. (His son vetoed the cowboy hat at his daughter's wedding.) He wore Santa Claus outfits every Christmas and walked down New Britain's Main Street or sat in a sleigh in front of his father's store, giving out candy to passing children. He played polkas on the accordion and sang.

Ostroski collected old cars and stashed them in rented garages or his own backyard. There was the Model T and the Model A, the 1955 Cadillac, the 1972 Cadillac convertible, the 1971 MG, 1984 Mercedes and many others.

He worked several years as a salesman for Schaeffer Brewing Co., after his stint with WHAY. Gary Ostroske remembers a garage filled with cases of beer in case any customers ran short over the weekend.

``A lot of people left their jobs when they left work, but my father worked 24 hours a day,'' he says.

That work ethic was especially present during Ostroski's 32-year tenure as civil defense director. A police scanner alerted him to every emergency, and he would go out on every house fire, regardless of the hour. When basements were flooded, Ostroski mobilized pumps. He would drive doctors and nurses stranded by a heavy snowfall to their jobs and found housing for people displaced by fire. He was also the head of the auxiliary police force. At 80, shortly before he retired in 2005, he obtained certification on the Community Emergency Response Team.

Ostroski had a particular affection for the Rock Cats. He would bring a generator to night games so the parking lot would be illuminated. The night after Ostroski died, his son Stephen drove the Model T onto the field for a couple who got married before the game.

``He was full of joie de vivre,'' says Bill Doolittle, team president. Ostroski also helped organize Polish night, during which a Polish band and Polish food contribute to the ambience. .

``My father never went anywhere that people didn't say hello,'' says Gary Ostroske. ``He was always setting the example for others.''